Blacks Fork

This article is about a river in Utah and Wyoming. For the ghost town of the same name, see Blacks Fork, Utah.

River in Wyoming, United States

Blacks Fork

Blacks Fork of the Green River

Location
Country| United States
State| Utah, Wyoming
Counties| Summit, Uinta, Lincoln, Sweetwater
Cites| Millburne, Fort Bridger, Granger
Physical characteristics
Source|
• location| Uinta Mountains (Utah)
• coordinates| 40°56′25″N 110°35′19″W﻿ / ﻿40.94028°N 110.58861°W﻿ / 40.94028; -110.58861[1]
Mouth| Flaming Gorge Reservoir

• location

| Wyoming

• coordinates

| 41°17′42″N 109°32′06″W﻿ / ﻿41.29500°N 109.53500°W﻿ / 41.29500; -109.53500[1]
Discharge|
• location| USGS gage #09224700 near Little America[2]
• average| 292 cu ft/s (8.3 m3/s)[3]
• minimum| 0 cu ft/s (0 m3/s)
• maximum| 9,980 cu ft/s (283 m3/s)
Basin features
Tributaries|
• left| Little West Fork Blacks Fork, Hams Fork
• right| Smiths Fork

Blacks Fork (also referred to as Blacks Fork of the Green River) is a 175-mile-long (282 km)[4] tributary of the Green River in Utah and Wyoming in the United States.[1]

## Description[edit]

The river rises on the northern side of the Uinta Mountains in the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest in Summit County, Utah, as the combination of three streams draining the area around Tokewanna Peak near the Utah–Wyoming border. Just before the river crosses into Wyoming, it flows into Meeks Cabin Reservoir, which is used for irrigation and flood control.[5] After entering Uinta County in Wyoming and then flowing out of the reservoir, the river leaves the national forest. It then flows northeast through unincorporated community of Millburne and along the edge of the census-designated place of Fort Bridger. Turning to a nearly eastern course, the river passes under Interstate 80 (I‑80) before joining with the Smiths Fork (possibly named for Jedediah Smith[6]), which forms just east of the Blacks Fork in the Uinta Mountains and parallels it for most of its course. The river continues northeast, very briefly passing through the extreme southeast corner of Lincoln, Wyoming, (where it turns east) before entering Sweetwater County, Wyoming. The river then meets the Hams Fork from the north on the southwest edge of Granger. Promptly after entering Granger, the river passes along the south edge of the Granger Stage Station and then passes under U.S. Route 30 (US 30). Shortly after that, the river makes sharp turn south (passing under I‑80/US 30) and eventually entering the Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area and joining the Green River at Flaming Gorge Reservoir

## History[edit]

The river is named for Arthur Black,[7] who trapped in the area in 1824 as an employee of the Ashley/Henry Company.[8] In 1843, mountain man Jim Bridger and his partner Louis Vasquez constructed a trading post on the Blacks Fork, located west of the present-day Lyman, known later as Fort Bridger. The post soon became a popular stop along the Oregon and California trails and later marked the point at which the Mormon Trail left the other two and continued into Utah.

## Climate[edit]

The Buck Pasture SNOTEL weather station is located near the source for the west fork of the Blacks Fork River.

Climate data for Buck Pasture, Utah, 2012–2022 normals: 9700ft (2957m)

Month  | Jan  | Feb  | Mar  | Apr  | May  | Jun  | Jul  | Aug  | Sep  | Oct  | Nov  | Dec  | Year
Record high °F (°C)  | 57
(14)  | 56
(13)  | 59
(15)  | 64
(18)  | 68
(20)  | 78
(26)  | 78
(26)  | 80
(27)  | 78
(26)  | 68
(20)  | 60
(16)  | 54
(12)  | 80
(27)
Mean maximum °F (°C)  | 48.5
(9.2)  | 46.8
(8.2)  | 52.8
(11.6)  | 58.3
(14.6)  | 64.2
(17.9)  | 73.6
(23.1)  | 76.1
(24.5)  | 75.4
(24.1)  | 72.5
(22.5)  | 61.3
(16.3)  | 54.1
(12.3)  | 47.5
(8.6)  | 77.0
(25.0)
Mean daily maximum °F (°C)  | 33.8
(1.0)  | 32.9
(0.5)  | 40.5
(4.7)  | 44.4
(6.9)  | 51.6
(10.9)  | 64.0
(17.8)  | 69.8
(21.0)  | 68.0
(20.0)  | 61.0
(16.1)  | 48.6
(9.2)  | 39.6
(4.2)  | 31.0
(−0.6)  | 48.8
(9.3)
Daily mean °F (°C)  | 17.6
(−8.0)  | 17.6
(−8.0)  | 25.2
(−3.8)  | 29.9
(−1.2)  | 38.8
(3.8)  | 48.9
(9.4)  | 54.7
(12.6)  | 52.8
(11.6)  | 46.6
(8.1)  | 35.5
(1.9)  | 25.6
(−3.6)  | 16.9
(−8.4)  | 34.2
(1.2)
Mean daily minimum °F (°C)  | 1.3
(−17.1)  | 2.2
(−16.6)  | 9.8
(−12.3)  | 15.4
(−9.2)  | 26.1
(−3.3)  | 33.8
(1.0)  | 39.7
(4.3)  | 37.7
(3.2)  | 32.1
(0.1)  | 22.4
(−5.3)  | 11.5
(−11.4)  | 2.9
(−16.2)  | 19.6
(−6.9)
Mean minimum °F (°C)  | −23.0
(−30.6)  | −24.5
(−31.4)  | −14.8
(−26.0)  | −5.8
(−21.0)  | 9.5
(−12.5)  | 22.9
(−5.1)  | 31.5
(−0.3)  | 30.5
(−0.8)  | 18.7
(−7.4)  | 0.5
(−17.5)  | −12.4
(−24.7)  | −22.8
(−30.4)  | −29.4
(−34.1)
Record low °F (°C)  | −35
(−37)  | −31
(−35)  | −22
(−30)  | −17
(−27)  | −6
(−21)  | 17
(−8)  | 25
(−4)  | 27
(−3)  | 11
(−12)  | −21
(−29)  | −29
(−34)  | −33
(−36)  | −35
(−37)
Average precipitation inches (mm)  | 2.71
(69)  | 2.78
(71)  | 2.84
(72)  | 3.58
(91)  | 2.85
(72)  | 1.50
(38)  | 1.62
(41)  | 2.06
(52)  | 2.31
(59)  | 2.68
(68)  | 2.95
(75)  | 2.85
(72)  | 30.73
(780)
Source 1: XMACIS2[9]
Source 2: NOAA (Precipitation)[10]

## See also[edit]

* Rivers portal

* List of rivers of Utah
* List of Wyoming rivers
* List of tributaries of the Colorado River

## References[edit]

1. ^ a b c U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Blacks Fork
2. ^ "USGS Gage #9224700 on Blacks Fork near Little America, WY" (PDF). National Water Information System. U.S. Geological Survey. 1962–2013. Retrieved 2014-08-31.
3. ^ "USGS Gage #9224700 on Blacks Fork near Little America, WY" (PDF). National Water Information System. U.S. Geological Survey. 1962–2013. Retrieved 2014-08-31.
4. ^ U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. "The National Map". Archived from the original on 2012-03-29., accessed March 18, 2011
5. ^ "Lyman Project". Bureau of Reclamation. Archived from the original on 2008-05-14.
6. ^ Morgan, Dale L; Wheat, Carl I (1954). Jedediah Smith and his Maps of the American West. San Francisco: California Historical Society. p. 51.
7. ^ Bagley, Will (2014). South Pass: Gateway to a Continent. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. p. 57\. ISBN 978-0806145112.
8. ^ "Utah History to Go". historytogo.utah.gov. Archived from the original on 2006-09-23.
9. ^ "xmACIS2". National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Retrieved November 17, 2023.
10. ^ "Buck Pasture, Utah 1991-2020 Monthly Normals". Retrieved November 17, 2023.

## External links[edit]

Media related to Blacks Fork at Wikimedia Commons